


Higanbana

by cloverfield



Series: Nabari no Youkai [1]
Category: Nabari no Ou
Genre: Ame-Onna and Ame-Otoko, Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Gau Needs To Not Die, Grief, Kitsune, M/M, Nabari no Youkai AU, Near Death Experience, Ninja and Shinobi, Non-Consensual Body Transformation, Raikou Needs A Hug, Samurai, Spider Lilies, Suicidal Ideation, Trauma, Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Kitsune, Youkai, lycoris radiata, supernatural themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:27:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22101796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloverfield/pseuds/cloverfield
Summary: “Raikou-san… I’m here to accept my punishment.”
Relationships: Meguro Gau/Shimizu Raikou
Series: Nabari no Youkai [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1590841
Comments: 5
Kudos: 8





	Higanbana

**Author's Note:**

  * For [whosthathufflepuff](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whosthathufflepuff/gifts).



> A moment among the spider lilies.

_“Raikou-san…”_

The _sound_ her brother makes - the scream, the yelp, the wrenching wretched sob - is unearthly, a warping yowl that sings of shock and pain and bone-shattering horror.

_“…I’m here to accept my punishment.”_

The figure- the boy, the _ame-otoko_ , the skinny half-grown young man who had looked Raimei in the eye with kunai pinpricking his pounding pulse and terribly steady hands, prepared to die to prove the truth of his words–

 _Gau_ , his name is–

He falls, and Raikou _shrieks_ , kitsunebi bursting around him like spider-lily fireworks, hot popping flickers of fire red that sizzle in the thundering rain as he collapses, knees buckling and Shirogamon slicing into mud as the blade flies from her brother’s fingertips.

“Gau,” he whispers, “no no no nonono _no_ ,” he pleads, and long pale hands flutter over the yawning gaping trench carved through a worn woolen vest, a thin and bony chest, blood oozing up through gaps between his fingers. “Gau, you must _stay with me_ –”

“I couldn’t keep my promise, Raikou-san,” he says, lips bubbling and wet, teeth dark and red. “I am _sorry_ –”

“No!” and it’s a wrench, the agony in her brother’s voice rippling out to shock the air with heat, and for a moment, the rain bows back beneath its sheer rage – but then it comes flooding back, drowning wet, and Raimei gasps a soaking breath as Raikou starts to shake.

The shock of his tails bursting free is barely a shock at all, long and blonde and lashing as he bows low, and the bones of his face shift in ways Raimei hasn’t seen in years as Raikou _snarls_ , teeth grit against an unwilling change; the points of his ears knife through pink hair bleeding yellow, matted golden fur already wet and rain-heavy, amber eyes slit and glowing, _glowing_ beneath the shadow of his dripping fringe.

“You are _family_ ,” gurgles Gau, blood dripping over his chin, and dark eyes are rain-soaked and wide as he reaches for her brother’s face, small hand trembling and wet where it slips oozing trails dark and slick down Raikou’s cheek. “You should make up, like siblings do…”

The shirt across Raikou’s back bulges, warps, fabric straining against the arch of spine as he struggles not to shift, shoulders jumping, but the fox is _coming_ and it will not be denied – not even as the tanuki girl from the hospital comes running, calling for a stretcher to the ninja who run behind her.

Gau’s hand falls and the rain falls harder, wide eyes open and glassy, dark lashes wet and still. Raimei can see the storm to come in their emptiness.

“No,” says Raikou, with a softness that chills the bone. His tails whip with frenzy, the air seething hot around him. “ _No!_ ”

It rises to a howl, a lightning snap of an agony so deep it borders on the void, and the pop-crackle-hiss of her brother’s kitsunebi ripples around him in a burning hot cloak, a shimmering wave that blows out the rain at last with its sheer heat as he loses the last of his control in a shudder of golden fur and quivering muscle.

“Raikou,” she stutters, surging up from her knees, and Raimei can’t stop herself shaking as she wades through the clumps of lilies, locking eyes with the three-tailed fox crouched and snarling as he crowds Gau, shielding the small body sinking deeper into the blood-stained mud. “Raikou, you have to calm down. You have to let us _help_ –”

The beast that looks her in the eye is wild, senseless with fury, gold eyes cracking with the power that seethes in the Shimizu bloodline. Raimei can feel her ears twitching against her skull, the itch of her tails below her spine as they wriggle beneath her human skin; the pain of her brother calls like a song to the fox in her, and the urge to leap to his side is so strong it burns like the claws that sting under her fingernails.

“Raikou, please,” she whispers, licking the rain off her lips. “ _Please_ –”

But Raikou is _gone_ , and only the fox remains, crouching low over a wounded mate, and Raimei knows that with every breath that sighs from Gau’s lips, the chance of her brother returning to the boy she once knew – the littermate, the sparring partner, the friend, the final bloody thread remaining of a whole clan lost – has slipped beyond her reach at last.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't actually _need_ another AU to obsess over, and certainly not one which is a thinly-veiled excuse for me making all the Nabari no Ou characters into supernatural creatures, _and yet here we are._


End file.
